


A Part Of Your World

by P41NT3DL4DY



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, Angst and Humor, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Katara is bisexual cause i said so, Little Mermaid Elements, Minor Sokka/Suki, Mutual Pining, Past Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, actually so is Zuko, fisherman zuko
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:29:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26816629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P41NT3DL4DY/pseuds/P41NT3DL4DY
Summary: Zuko goes on vacation to Ember Island the summer after he graduated high school, there he meets a very particular girl. My own spin on a zutara little mermaid au.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AHHH first things first thank you so much Yuki for editing my fic to fix my grammar and also a huge thank you to Sarah for helping me with the title. This is inspired by Evie’s little mermaid zutara fanart. follow her on twitter @SORRYCH4T.

“This is a waste of time, absolutely nothing is happening!” Zuko whined.

“Zuko, fish won’t come to you if you’re angry. They can feel your emotions from a mile away. In order to catch them properly, you need to be as calm as the ocean itself. They will feel at peace and come to you naturally.” Iroh said with a slight hint of amusement in his voice.

“That’s ridiculous, they’re fish! All they see is food and they bite. It has nothing to do with my anger or anything. There are probably not even any fish here in general!”

“That is indeed a possibility, but mine is one as well,” Iroh said while reeling in a fish.

“Ugh, whatever!” Zuko yelled, throwing his fishing rod next to him in the boat.

Truthfully speaking he wasn’t that irritated by his apparent lack of talent for fishing, but at the reason as to why he was spending his summer break fishing with his uncle.

Zuko thoroughly enjoyed his summer vacation. Zuko was free. Free from school, free from his grades being compared to the stellar, straight-A student Azula, free from being tormented by his own father who would constantly state that Azula would be better off inheriting their family’s corporation instead of him. Zuko was free from his father, who seemingly hated him, and Azula, who would never let him forget how superior she was to him.

Zuko had lots of plans for the summer. He wanted to go and travel through the city on his own, wanted to finally muster up the courage and ask Mai out. He wanted to just go and do whatever he wants, and he was actually planning on doing it!

Until his family decided that they’re going to spend the entire summer at Ember Island, causing his summer plans to be crushed. Now, Zuko has nothing better to do than to fish with his uncle.

“This sucks,” he murmured under his breath, taking on a slouched position with his eyes glued to the vast amount of water in front of him. “Aren’t you bored of doing this? We’ve been going at it for hours. There’s so much ocean a person can take”

“Well, it’s actually more fun if you manage to catch the fish,” Iroh said chuckling, earning him an annoyed groan from his nephew. “I also wouldn’t think about the ocean negatively. It’s where all life started, preceding humanity itself and has always been a mystery to us”.

“Yeah. A bunch of water with fish and plants in it, how mysterious.” Zuko responded as his words dripped with sarcasm.

Iroh couldn’t help but sigh listening to his nephew talk. How was he so young yet so bitter? It was a question that he could never find the answer to.

o0o0o0

After 40 minutes of fishing, or Iroh fishing and Zuko just staring at the sea muttering curse words under his breath every few minutes, something odd happened. For a second Zuko could’ve sworn he saw brown hair in the middle of the ocean, which caused panic to rush through his body, immediately making him sit up straight. But the second he blinked, the hair was gone and his eyes were met with nothing but the water that he was really getting tired of seeing.

“What's wrong?” Uncle Iroh asked, instantly seeing the change in his nephew’s body language.

“Oh, nothing.”

“If you say so. We caught enough fish for today so let’s head back.” Iroh said, eyes glistening with excitement while looking down on the full bucket of fish he caught.

“Finally!” Zuko sighed with content.

After a few minutes of rowing, the duo finally reached shore. Zuko got off the boat first, thoroughly enjoying the sandy texture of the beach he could feel underneath his feet for the first time in his life. 

Iroh got off the boat shortly afterward, all while holding his bucket as if it was his own child. 

For the first time that day, Zuko could feel a small smile gracing his face at the sight of his excited uncle. Though he’d never admit it, Zuko was kinda glad he went on this fishing trip. It was not like he had anything else to do to pass time and even though he was still upset about his summer plans being ruined, he was appreciative of the fact he could spend some quality time with his uncle in what felt like forever.

“Are you going home now?“ Iroh asked.

Though Zuko would do anything to not go home and knew of the fact he could easily ask his uncle to spend the night at his place, he was also aware of the repercussions that would bring in once he returned home so he declined. Iroh decided to give him a couple of fish to take home and then they parted ways.

o0o0o

“Zuzu, I didn’t know you were back from your playdate with Uncle,” Azula mused as she leaned against Zuko’s doorframe, looking down at her brother who was laying down on his bed.

“What do you want, Azula?” Zuko replied, unwilling to look up at her and unable to hide his annoyance at hearing her voice. She really was the last person he wanted to see today.

“Nothing, I just came here to ask you something.”

“What?”

“Are you ever going to take your life seriously and stop being an embarrassment for the family?”

“What?” he said through gritted teeth, finally looking up to face her.

“Don’t act dumb. Father is getting impatient. You’re expected to take over the company in a few years, yet you spend all your time fishing or drinking tea with Uncle.”

“It’s summer break and Father hasn’t said anything to me so you can stop with whatever you’re trying to say because I’m not interested.” Zuko was burning with agitation. At this point, he was praying to see the day that Azula wouldn’t bother him. If that day could ever come, that is.

“Since when does Father discuss his feelings with us? Especially you. Don’t tell me you’ve become so naive due to Uncle’s influence, Zuzu.” Azula spat. “Anyways, I wouldn’t get mad if I were you. I’m warning you to protect you. You don’t want to experience the embarrassment of Father handing the company over to your little sister, would you?” she replied, feigning innocence and concern.

“I’ve had enough of this conversation,” Zuko stood up and walked past his sister as he exited his room.

A breeze hit Zuko’s face as he walked out of his front door. Once he heard the door behind him close, he felt himself at ease, which was surprising as he was unaware of being so tense in the first place.

He didn’t want to show it in front of Azula, but their conversation did manage to frighten him. What if Father was actually growing impatient with him? He knew Father was never satisfied with anything he did, but he wouldn’t actually make Azula take over the company right? What if Father already made the choice and he just never felt to inform him because he was that insignificant to him. He could already hear Azula say “Oh come on, you didn’t actually think father would choose you over me?” The thought of that alone made his blood boil.

Once he felt the sandy texture touch the bottom of his shoe, Zuko realized he had walked all the way down to the beach. Dropping himself to the ground, holding his knees while leaning his head towards them. 

“Azula always lies. Azula always lies.” Zuko started repeating out loud, while slowly rocking himself back and forth as he felt tears started to form and stinge his eyes.

Before he knew it, Zuko was bawling for the first time in months. The emotions that were building up started pouring out with every sniffle and hiccup that left his throat. 

He was upset. Upset at Azula for always being such a shitty sister, upset at his father for never appreciating his efforts, upset at his summer plans getting ruined, but most importantly, he was upset at himself for never being able to just do anything right no matter how hard he tried or how he much he wanted it. It never seemed to work out for him no matter what he did and he’d always try to stay strong but honestly? exhausted from it all. 

Despite the throbbing headache that started to grow stronger and stronger each passing second, Zuko couldn’t bring himself to stop crying. 

After 10 minutes had passed he finally felt himself relax, having let go of all the feelings that were bottling up this entire time. 

As he slowly lifted his head from his knees, he started to wipe away his tears. Once he stopped he saw the small teardrops that travelled through the rips of his black skinny jeans earlier and now rested on the exposed part of his knees. The sight of it made him giddy.

Zuko raised his head and closed his eyes letting the cool night breeze hit his face. It felt so incredible that he made a mental note to come here more often.  
When he opened his eyes, they were met with the gaze of two piercing blue eyes.

“Hello?”


	2. 2

It was as if Zuko got stuck in a trance the second they had locked eyes and he had no intention of trying to get out of it either.

Once he blinked after what felt like an eternity, Zuko snapped out of the trance and saw that the pair of eyes he was staring at belonged to a girl. The mysterious girl was sitting on the edge of a small cliff a couple of hundred meters across from him, the night breeze ruffling her brown curly hair, as she was now looking down at the ocean below her.

Zuko couldn’t shake the weird feeling that there was something special about her, and the implications it brought did not make him feel any better but before he knew it, he started walking towards her.

“Hello?” Zuko said, the loudness of his voice slightly shocking him. He did not mean to be so loud and he could feel warmth arise to his cheeks.

It certainly shocked her as well because the moment the girl looked behind her and realized he was talking to her, her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened.

When he wanted to speak up again, it happened.

The girl threw herself off the cliff and into the ocean below her.

“ARE YOU OKAY?!” Zuko yelled breathlessly as he ran all the way to the top of the small cliff where the girl was previously seated. He looked down and while he was frantically panicking searching for her, he heard her.

“YEAH I’M OKAY. THANK YOU FOR ASKING.” She calmly yelled back.

Zuko relaxed at the sound of her voice and not a second later he spotted her floating around in the water beneath him, seemingly not weirded out by the entire situation.

He sat down as he thought to himself, This is not the first time she has done this.

“UH, NO PROBLEM?”

“WHY ARE WE YELLING?” The girl replied, her blue eyes filled with amusement.

“I DON'T-” Zuko paced himself. He definitely did not want to embarrass himself again in front of the mysterious, yet polite, female who somehow survived jumping off a cliff.” I mean, I don't know. I started yelling because you scared the living shit out of me for jumping off a cliff. Why the hell did you do that?”

“Well, I…” She stopped as she nervously looked down at the water that reached all the way up to her chest. Once she looked up she saw the boy looking at her with his eyebrow raised, clearly waiting for her answer. “I wanted to go for a swim?”

“At night.”

“Well yeah, it's obviously not day.”

“Riiight. Why though?”

“You ask a lot of questions, did you know that?”

“No, you’re totally the first person to say that to me,” Zuko deadpanned. “Why are you swimming now though?” 

He never was the type to pry into other people’s business nor was he that interested to ever want to but this situation, this girl, it was all too strange to let go.

“I wanted the ocean to myself. I mean, who else would decide to go for a swim at this time?” She answered truthfully.

During the day, the beach was always packed and she could never swim too close in order to not get spotted by a human. At night, the beach was usually left alone. 

Some would try to recreate a romantic walk on the beach, while others just wanted to be alone, but nobody would really see it as an opportunity to swim or go up the cliff she adored.

“That’s true.”

“And what are you doing here?” The girl asked.

“Oh, well...” The question caught Zuko off guard. He realized that in her eyes he probably seemed a bit strange as well. “It’s something personal.”

“At the beach?”

“No. I came here to escape from those ‘personal things.’ Family and all.”

He let his head down. Zuko didn’t know why he didn’t lie to her and he certainly didn’t know why he even mentioned his family. He was never the biggest fan of lying but he certainly never minded doing it the few times people tried to get too close to him for his liking.

“I understand. I’m the same,” She softly spoke. Zuko looked up and could tell from the look in her eyes she was sincere.

“I thought you came here to swim?“ He teased which made her scoff.

“That wasn’t a lie, but my family situation also isn’t the most ideal. I come here a lot to get peace of mind. I’m guessing you’re here for the same reason?”

“Yeah. I am” Zuko said, a smile hinting at his lips. It was nice having someone who he could relate to.

Seeing him smile made her grin widely, and boy was she pretty. He already noticed she was pretty from the start but now he noticed it.

“I-“

Brrr Brrr.

Brrr Brrr.

Zuko felt his phone vibrate. Shit, he thought to himself. Azula texted him twice, and Azula rarely texts him, nevermind double texts him.

Come home soon.  
Dad went out drinking.

Fuck, he needed to get home immediately. He could not risk coming home later than his dad.

“Are you okay?” he heard the mysterious girl say, her face was plagued with worry. Zuko could not fathom why she would feel worried for something she had just met. It was strange for Zuko to experience sympathy from another human being.

“I’m fine. I just need to get home now, family stuff you know?”

“The ones you tried to escape?”

“Yeah… ironic isn’t it?” he shyly grabbed the back of his neck.

“It is” she mused. “But I understand. Goodbye then,” she said more sternly now.

“Goodbye,” Zuko nodded, stood up and turned around but right before he started walking the girl spoke up.

“Wait!” she raised her voice and it caused Zuko to turn around.

“You haven’t told me your name yet.” She asked nervously, a huge difference in her earlier behaviour Zuko noted.

“It’s Zuko.”

“Zuko.” The girl repeated after him smiling.

“And? What is your name?”

“My name is Katara.”

“That’s an unusual name.”

“Aren’t those the best?”

That remark made Zuko scoff and he could tell she was back to her earlier confidence. What a strange girl he thought to himself, though he wasn’t sure if he saw that negatively or not.

“You probably should go now though.”

“Oh right. I’ll leave then. See you around?” He asked. Zuko was strangely convinced that now that he met Katara, he’d see her a lot more.

“Yeah. See you around.” Katara replied with an unmistakably sad look in her eyes though she kept her smile. He didn’t know why she looked so sad but he was also aware he couldn't waste any more time here to find out, so just like that he turned around once again and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i finally uploaded chapter two. i will try to upload more often however it will take longer to upload chapter three and four (they will be uploaded shortly after each other) as i’m sick right now :// thank you all for reading my fic as it’s my first one!!!


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